When is it legal to use a mobile phone behind the wheel?

Rob Gwynne-Thomas of the South Wales Police Road Policing Unit explains when you can and can’t use a phone in the car:

Skipping music, declining a call or unlocking your phone:Illegal. Any physical interaction with your phone will be classified as “using it”.

Programming your phone as a sat nav:Illegal. You must set the route before you turn on your car and set off on your journey.

Using hands-free/Bluetooth kits:Legal. As long as you aren’t distracted from focusing on the road.

Using your phone when the car is stationary. e.g. in traffic or at a red light: Illegal. While the engine is on and you are in control of the car, it is illegal to touch your phone.

Sitting in the driver’s seat with the engine switched off: Legal. As long as you are pulled over to the side of the road in a safe location.

Using voice commands. e.g. Siri: Legal. But only if you don’t need to touch your phone at all to do so, and aren’t distracted from driving. If you have to pick up your phone to enable voice commands, it is illegal.

Road Respect’s No Look, No Touch, No Phone campaign hopes to discourage drivers from using their phone at all while they are in the car.

A spokesman for Road Respect said: “The visual nature of the texts aims to draw people’s attention in, with the sobering message behind the phones really resonating with drivers and passengers alike, with the outcome being the encouraging of behavioural change behind the wheel.

“This is in the hope that drivers will see and recognise the risks associated with driving and using a mobile phone, before it’s too late.”